Retirement Communities
Links Media Retirement communities go upscale http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06205/708205-55.stm : Source: July 24, 2006, by Gary Rotstein, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Spas, fitness rooms, formal dining rooms and hefty entry fees The colorful, fold-out marketing brochure for Providence Point touts just about any amenity a former South Hills doctor, lawyer or business executive -- and his spouse -- could crave in a retirement community. There's the "stunning" foyer, "spectacular" landscaping and "elegant" fountain, plus formal and casual dining rooms, fitness center and pool, day spa, billiard room, on-site banking, surround-sound movie theater, weekly housekeeping visits and "a wide range of cultural, recreational and spiritual activities, all designed to help you stay fit for life." Another brochure from the developer, Baptist Homes of Western Pennsylvania, gives the price tag for the plush, active living in 257 independent-living patio homes and apartments. Entrance fees range from $163,200 to $624,000, and residents also make monthly payments that start near $2,000 and can rise above $4,000 for the largest patio homes. Those will be adjacent to assisted-living and nursing-home facilities ready to accept residents when their health declines. The new housing is to be available to affluent retirees by late 2008 on the site where Allegheny County's Kane Hospital once stood in Scott Township, which at its end was denounced for warehouse-style care of indigent seniors. It may be at the same location, but Providence Point will bear little resemblance to its demolished predecessor of decades ago, the rubble from which is still being cleared before construction begins this year. Its new nursing home, for instance, will have only private rooms. Once open, Providence Point will join a small group of continuing care retirement communities in the Pittsburgh area that use hefty up-front fees from older consumers to provide extensive activities and services in campus-style surroundings. Known as "life care" communities, they contract with residents to guarantee them access to assisted-living and nursing-home units on the grounds once their health declines, without the typical fee increases that would accompany their need for more intensive care and services. Their entrance fees are invested by the providers to cover the higher cost of later care. The Pittsburgh area has fewer such retirement communities than Eastern Pennsylvania and many other parts of the country, industry analysts say. While that seems odd, given the region's older demographics, local providers say it's a reflection of Pittsburghers' tendencies to stay put in homes, and the loyalties of younger family members to care for older relatives. They also suggest that the region is slower to embrace any new housing style, whether condominiums, assisted living or the CCRCs, as the full-service communities are known. Still, Baptist Homes officials believe a $115 million investment is justified in making Providence Point an alternative to Friendship Village in Upper St. Clair and the Covenant at South Hills among lifetime-guarantee communities in Pittsburgh's southern suburbs. Sherwood Oaks of Cranberry, Longwood at Oakmont and Masonic Village at Sewickley are among their peers in the wider region. Their minimum age for residents is usually either 62 or 65, but 78 is the average. Several existing facilities have waiting lists of a year or more. "This is the fastest-growing segment of senior living," said Baptist Homes President Todd Swortzel. "Continuing care retirement communities give people peace of mind, without the worry of burdening family members." Some other CCRCs in the region have modified long-term contracts that keep entrance fees more modest, provide less in the way of country club-style amenities, and increase fees once residents' health affects their housing and service needs. Providers say more and more retirees, however, prefer the combination of full activities in their active years with guaranteed, long-term pricing, similar to buying insurance to prepare for future health decline. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department regulates the CCRCs, which number about 180 in the state, because of the entrance fees and insurance-style contracts. Life care incentives Mr. Swortzel said that, in theory, the "life care" communities with long-term guarantees should be better for residents, because the provider has financial incentives to provide health and wellness programs that keep residents independent longer. Merle and Glenda Wagoner, in their early 80s, sold their home of 47 years in Chippewa last year to move into Sherwood Oaks, a community of one-story rental homes, lined by covered walkways and grouped into clusters carrying names such as Cambridge and Windsor. The walkways make life easier for residents in rain, snow or last week's blazing sun. A sentry in a 24-hour gatehouse monitors who enters the 84-acre village. After some initial hesitation about the distance from their friends in Beaver County, the small kitchen and up-front fee of $127,608 to obtain their two-bedroom patio home, the Wagoners have embraced the socialization and lack of burdens that come with their new lifestyle. As at other full "life care" communities, there are no utility bills, no lawn mowing, no snow shoveling and no stairs. Like many residents of the 24-year-old community, which was acquired in the 1990s by UPMC, Mrs. Wagoner uses a scooter to get between her home and the community center for the fitness center, classes and a choice of one meal a day. "It's a very easy place to get to know people," said Mr. Wagoner, a tall and amiable former hardware store owner who exchanged greetings repeatedly with those he passed during a half-mile tour of the tree- and shrub-filled grounds. "A lot of my friends back home thought it was like I was going to a nursing home, and said, 'What are you doing that for?'" he said. "They didn't really understand." Some 60 different resident committees at Sherwood Oaks are designed to help keep people busy when they're not taking art classes, using the computer center, playing croquet, volunteering in the nursing home or taking van shuttles to the Civic Light Opera or Slippery Rock University. Some people like the Wagoners move to Sherwoods Oaks as their downsizing move, straight from a large home that's become a burden. Others, like former Allegheny Energy executive Richard Pospistle and his wife Loretta, use it as a return to Western Pennsylvania to be near children and grandchildren after an initial retirement to Florida. The communities, most of them in Western Pennsylvania run by non-profit organizations, give consumers entrance fee options ranging from those that are non-refundable -- like the Wagoners'at the lowest end -- to those with a 90 percent refund to heirs upon death. The latter choice brings the more eye-popping figures, such as fees of more than $500,000 for larger units at Providence Point. Providers say local consumers seem more likely to take the high-fee, 90-percent refund option than those elsewhere, perhaps because of close family ties and desire to pass on wealth to children. Most people pay up front by "swapping out of their homes" since many have paid off their mortgages, noted Mr. Swortzel of Baptist Homes. "Very seldom do we find that people coming in on our tour have sticker shock. Most are already educated on what the cost of this type of lifestyle is," said Jeff Mohler, marketing manager of Masonic Village at Sewickley, actually located in Aleppo. The complex has filled 93 percent of the 263 independent-living units it opened in 2003, he said. Paul Winkler, president of Presbyterian SeniorCare, said the trend in such communities is to give people a more comprehensive wellness center -- a combination of gym, pool, personal trainers and health-related classes -- to help seniors maintain their activity levels longer. His organization is planning expansion of the health center of its Longwood at Oakmont facility -- which is actually in Plum -- plus adding larger, more deluxe apartments and additional dining options. Upscale seniors here A feasibility study for Longwood's expansion showed the Pittsburgh region's eastern section has plenty of people 75 and older, with annual incomes of $65,000 or more from investments, pensions or other means, who are candidates for a more upscale continuing care community, Mr. Winkler said. "We do a lot of housing for low-income seniors, but we want to serve people of all income levels," Mr. Winkler said. More affluent seniors "want housing that's secure, and they're often folks who are very used to making their own decisions. They want to be in control of their future. They don't want their children left with these issues." The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging reports about 2,240 CCRCs nationwide housed 725,000 people in 2005 at the different care levels. That represents growth of about 500 such developments in the past 10 years, and 2,000 in the past 20 years. Not all of those are the kind of "life care" communities with the full contracts for long-term care, said association spokeswoman Lauren Shaham. But, she said it's clear that CCRCs are the key growth area for senior housing along with "active adult communities" for people 55 and up, which don't necessarily include nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. When Jim and Joan McAnulty, now in their early 70s, wanted to downsize from their longtime Mt. Lebanon home 11 years ago, they did so not to a retirement village but a condominium in Mt. Lebanon's Woodridge section. Now they're among 106 households to place a 10 percent deposit on one of Providence Point's 257 independent-living units. Construction is to start once half the units are taken. The McAnultys see the move as a natural next step, offering them an easily accessible health club, dining and more. While he may have to write out a check for more than a half-million dollars in 2008 for their two-bedroom unit, said Mr. McAnulty, a former Mellon Bank vice president, "We are going to get what we pay for. ... I'm sure some people want to go there that can't afford it, but I worked for 40 years-plus, and my wife for 22 years, and we saved and have the ability to do it." category:where